Title: Afterworlds
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Publication: September 23rd 2014 by Simon Pulse
Genre: YA Contemporary/YA Paranormal
Source: Provided by the kind publisher...
Darcy Patel has put college and everything else on hold to publish her teen novel, Afterworlds. Arriving in New York with no apartment or friends she wonders whether she's made the right decision until she falls in with a crowd of other seasoned and fledgling writers who take her under their wings…
Told in alternating chapters is Darcy's novel, a suspenseful thriller about Lizzie, a teen who slips into the 'Afterworld' to survive a terrorist attack. But the Afterworld is a place between the living and the dead and as Lizzie drifts between our world and that of the Afterworld, she discovers that many unsolved - and terrifying - stories need to be reconciled. And when a new threat resurfaces, Lizzie learns her special gifts may not be enough to protect those she loves and cares about most.
-- My Rating --
3/5 Oscars: liked it
-- My Thoughts --
I've heard about Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series ever since I started blogging. It had a lot of fans, but I never got around to reading it. But when I was given this book for review, I thought it was finally the time to find out what all the hype about the author was.
Darcy is a writer. She's just written her novel, Afterworlds, and now she is moving to NY to fulfill her dreams. But being an author comes with a lot of expectations and insecurities that Darcy doesn't think she can handle. Lizzy's life changes when she survives a massacre by playing dead. Now, she can see ghosts and wondering things from other planes. It is definitely not what she expected her senior year to be.
This book is divided into two stories. There is Darcy's story, her normal natural life as an author in NY. And then, there is her novel, Afterworlds, which is told in alternating chapters throughout the novel. So we have Lizzie, the main character in Darcy's novel, and we read her story alongside Darcy's. That was kind of fascinating. Since one chapter, you are in a normal mundane world, then you are transported to a paranormal world filled with spiritual beings.
The thing is, I found myself liking Darcy's story much more than I did Lizzie's. Which is the reason I gave this book 3 instead of 5. I found myself reading Darcy's story and being intrigued with her. But when it was Lizzie's chapter, I couldn't wait to get it over with. I didn't want Darcy's chapters to finish just so I wouldn't read Lizzie's. And that really stopped me from enjoying this book as much as I hoped I would.
Another part that I loved was the references to the publishing industry in NY. It felt real, there were all these authors, and these reading parties, and launch parties, and author signings, and debutantes. It was so fascinating reading about all that. But the whole afterworlds and ghosts and paranormal beings didn't intrigue me.
The romance also plays a huge part in this novel. There is Darcy''s romance with her fellow author, which I am not going to mention. In order not to ruin the story, but the potential love interest was definitely not who I expected. Lizzie's love interest, Yama, was just as shallow as she was. I found their chemistry unbelievable and just plain weird.
Overall, I found myself really enjoying some parts of this book and despising the others. But I am pretty sure that there are readers out there who absolutely loved Lizzie. Now, I am definitely disappointed for Scott Westerfeld but I will be reading his Uglies series soon.. Although his book won't make it into my favorites, it was still a very enjoyable read.
-- Updates --
And now for my updates of Day 2 of the Bout of Books Read-a-thon:
Number of Pages I've read today: 70
Books read: Oceanborn by Amalie Howard
Total number of books read: 1
Today #insixwords: DEFINITELY DISAPPOINTED WITH MY PROGRESS
